In Stardew Valley, players do their best to discover new, better ways to make money in the early game. One of these methods involves Tea Saplings and Tea Leaves.
The problem with this crop, however, is that it seems to never actually be ready for harvest. Even if you check on it every day, the Tea Leaves are never ready to be picked up.
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Well, Tea Saplings work very differently from most other crops in the game and have a special mechanic that makes many players confused.
To get Tea Leaves in Stardew Valley, you will need to get the Tea Sapling recipe from Caroline, plant one, and harvest it every day during the last week of each season.
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How to Get Tea Leaves in Stardew Valley
Tea Leaves in Stardew Valley come from Tea Saplings, a crop that you can plant either in the ground or in a Garden Pot.
As opposed to all the other crops in the game, you can actually either buy the Tea Saplings from the Traveling Merchant or craft them yourself.
Since the Traveling Merchant has a random stock each time you talk to her, this is not a reliable way to get some Saplings. Also, the price is above 1,500 g, which is a steal for something you can craft yourself.
To get Tea Saplings in Stardew Valley, you will need to get 2 hearts with Caroline and enter the back of her house. In the kitchen, there is a door that leads to a little garden. In there, you will get an event about Tea Saplings.
The next day you will have the recipe in your mail, allowing you to craft the crop.
Caroline will be relatively easy to befriend, and you should get the recipe in the first Spring, considering how efficient this crop is in the early game.
You can just give her Daffodils that you pick around Pelican Town since she likes them, and talk to her every day. This will get you the event and recipe in no time.
How Tea Saplings Work
To craft Tea Saplings in Stardew Valley, you will need Wild Seeds x2, Fiber x5, and Wood x5. Fiber and Wood will be relatively easy to get, especially in the early game, considering you have everything you need on the farm.
Just cut grass and trees and you will have more than enough Fiber and Wood, for now. However, Wild Seeds will be a different game. Players can craft Wild Seeds using the forageables that spawn during the season.
To make Spring Seeds you will need Wild Horseradish, Daffodil, Leek, and Dandelion.
Luckily, you can find them in abundance around the map, on your farm and in Cindersap Forest.
If you ever find yourself having a lot of Fiber, Wood, or Wild Seeds and want to sell them, it would be a very smart idea to craft Tea Saplings first using them since selling the Saplings is much more profitable than selling the raw ingredients (500 g).
Tea Saplings take 20 days to grow, and you can only harvest the Tea Leaves during the last week of each season. This means that you can only harvest them between days 22 and 28 of the season, no matter what season it is.
Also, if you plant the Tea Saplings inside, you can still harvest the Leaves during the Winter as well. This is why it might be a smart idea to plant them in Garden Pots and leave them somewhere inside.
The Tea Saplings never die, so they can also be used as decorations or even fences for your farm animals.
They will stand there looking good, giving you harvests each season in the final week.
What to Do With Tea Leaves
You don’t need to water Tea Saplings, which makes them a very good passive way to make money in Stardew Valley.
Once you get the Tea Leaves, you can either sell them as is, for 50 g each or turn them using the Keg or Preserves Jar to multiply their value.
Using the Keg will get you Tea, which is worth 100 g, and using the Preserves Jar will get you Pickled Tea Leaves, worth 150 g.
The difference between them, besides price, is that it will take a few in-game hours for Tea Leaves to turn into Tea, while Pickled Tea Leaves will be produced in 2 to 3 days.
This is why most players choose to sell Tea instead of Pickled Tea Leaves since there are other better crops to use with the Preserves Jar.
That’s everything you need to know about how to get Tea Leaves in Stardew Valley!
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